Chief Mamata Banerjee says, Not a traitor, do not want mid-term polls

After all the fire and thunder of the past few weeks and months, prominent UPA ally and Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee may be toning down the pressure on the Congress.

In a report in the Kolkata based Bengali newspaper, the Ananda Bazar Patrika, the Trinamool chief is quoted saying, "We are not traitors. Putting the central govt in a spot is not our objective. We do not want mid-term polls. We don't want to split our alliance with Congress."

The report says Mamata Banerjee spoke to Congress leader Ahmed Patel on the matter.

Her party sources say Ms Banerjee is unlikely to accept an invitation from the Akalis to attend the swearing-in of Parkash Singh Badal as Chief Minister. Her presence would not go down well with the Congress, who was served an unexpected defeat by the Akalis in the recent election in Punjab. Aware of the recent reports on her siding against the UPA  with many of the Congress' political rivals like Naveen Patnaik of Odisha, Ms Banerjee is prone for now to avoid more controversy.

At yesterday's parliamentary party meeting, Ms Banrejee had said Union Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi had admitted his mistake about his comments about mid-term polls.

Mr Trivedi had said if that there is an anti-Congress wave in the country and the Samajwadi Party and the BJP wants early polls then Congress should understand.

"Trinamool may also be happy to have a mid-term poll now rather than two years later. If I am in a situation of a lame duck then I think it may be a good idea to call it a day," Mr Trivedi had said.

He had also said that not much could be expected in the Budget Session of Parliament. Mr Trivedi later did a volte face and said the remarks were made in an individual capacity. "My remarks have nothing to do with my party, it has nothing to do with me as a minister. It is just an exchange of idea as a student of politics, analysing a political situation in the country. And as an individual, I have certainly lost my freedom of expression but it is not a statement," he said

FIR filed against Rahul for road show in Kanpur rally

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was on Monday booked for alleged violation of model code of conduct by UP authorities which said that his road show here had breached the time limit and the roadmap set by them.

District Magistrate Hari Om said that an FIR has been filed against Rahul and city Congress chief Mahesh Dikshit who have been booked under Section 188 of IPC for violating prohibitory orders (Section 144) imposed in the city and under Sections 283 (danger or obstruction in public way) and 290 (public nuisance).

"The district administration had allocated time till noon and fixed a 20-km route for Rahul Gandhi's road show but Rahul Gandhi violated it and stretched it beyond permitted time. He also did not stick to the prescribed route for the event," the DM said.

However, state Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who was part of the road show, denied there was any violation of the model code of conduct and accused the district administration of trying to stop Rahul's mass contact programme at the behest of the Mayawati government.

"The party has apprised the Election Commission about the action of the district administration," she said.

Kanpur MP and Union Minister Sri Prakash Jaiswal dared the authorities to file an FIR against him. "I had invited Rahul Gandhi for the roadshow. Let the authorities file an FIR against me," he told reporters.

The DM claimed that the road show organisers had sought permission for a 38-km stretch but they had been informed last night about the conditions. "The district administration had fixed a 20-km route for Rahul Gandhi's road show as today is Shivratri and there could be a traffic problem.

"Still they violated the rules and chose to follow the route for which permission had not been granted," he said, adding, "There could have been a security breach or a clash".

Joshi, however, countered that the detailed programme of the Congress general secretary, including the route, was handed over to the district administration by the district unit well in advance and was also cleared by the SPG.

"The administration, however, revised the programme last night and sent it to the SPG," she claimed.

She said that as the people had already been informed about the entire programme, it was not possible to carry out last minute changes.

"During the entire mass contact programme neither Rahul Gandhi addressed a meeting, nor did he take out any procession. Therefore, he has not violated the model conde of conduct," the state Congress president claimed.

She alleged that the Mayawati government was "nervous and shaken" after the "success" of Rahul's road show in Lucknow.

The road show began at the Circuit House this morning and crossed through all the five assembly segments here with people standing on both sides of the roads to greet the leader.

Rahul's road show was, however, shown black flags by youths belonging to some Muslim groups in Baghai area of the Cantonment. They were shouting slogans of 'Rahul, go back'.

In Muslim-dominated Chunnigang area, people welcomed him by showering flowers while the Congress leader garlanded an Ambedkar statue in Bajaria area.

Kanpur will go to polls in the fifth phase of February 23.

Anna slammed by political parties for slap comment .

 Anna Hazare’s latest remarks that a person is left with no option other than going for a slap when his power of tolerance towards corruption runs out, has invoked huge criticism from the political circles with leaders, cutting across party lines, slamming the social activist.

Congress leader Digvijay Singh, who has from a long time, accused the social activist of having links with RSS and BJP said that he always considered Anna as ‘Gandhivaadi’, but his latest comments of favouring violence reflects that he is getting influenced by the Sangh Parivar and opposition who have a history of supporting violence.

“Annaji has lost respect in my eyes,” Digvijay said.

Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan said that Anna and his team are against democracy. The firebrand Muslim leader further quipped that if a leader was talking about violence what could be expected from the team.

Congress leader Rajiv Shukla said a slap cannot put a halt on corruption.

BJP leader Rajnath Singh too criticised the remarks of Anna saying that he did not support such thoughts.

"When a man's power of tolerance runs out, then whoever is in front of you, if a slap is given, then the brain is put back in place. That is the only road open now", Hazare told reporters after watching the Hindi film 'Gali Gali Chor Hai' based on the common man's fight against corruption.

A special screening of the movie was held for the anti-graft crusader at his native village Ralegan Siddhi last night in the presence of the film's crew.